


And I'll Try Now

by Emmybazy



Series: Commuter Cake [4]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Commuter Fic, I never know what to tag with these short fics, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 04:57:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2297375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmybazy/pseuds/Emmybazy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calum drags his leather jacket out of his closet and fixes his hair for once. It's all for Luke.</p>
<p>Or, Calum's going all out for this guy. And they still take the subway to work.</p>
<p>(Or, Calum's perspective of In your Leather Jacket.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	And I'll Try Now

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god! These titles are getting ridiculous! Somebody stop me before it's too late! But seriously, I did the math, and there's no way I'm going to be able to only do lyrics from the SLSP chorus. A new system shall come. but until then, you get really really bad titles.
> 
> If you have no interest in reading Calum's perspective of In your Leather Jacket, then don't read this. I can get bored re reading things I've already read so I totally don't blame you. It was kind of fun to write both sides though and some people said they liked reading it so I figured why not? Two fics in one day is a record for me!
> 
> Sorry for the lack of editing. I just don't think it's all that necessary for these itty bitty fics and I'd rather just post them as soon as I finish. 
> 
> I still don't own anything.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this!

Is leather too much? Calum’s standing in front of his mirror and trying to look both sexy for the subway and professional enough for work. He hasn’t worn the jacket in awhile, a gift for his birthday this past January, but it fits well. It’s a little drastic, but he needs to pull out all the stops to compete with Luke’s...everything.

Calum smiles to himself in the mirror as he fixes his hair. Luke had been a surprise, a brilliant happy surprise. Someone with a great music library, kind of cute and quirky, while also being ridiculously attractive. Calum is actually going to try with this, he’s going to fix his hair and flirt and whatever else it takes because it feels like Luke is giving him a chance. Calum’s just baffled, he has no idea why. He slips out of his room with a bit of a skip in his step, humming a bit of some pop love song that’s stuck in his head.

“Why do you look so happy?” Mikey calls out from the couch as Calum walks through the living room.

“No particular reason.” Calum smiles and straightens out his jacket.

Mikey’s nose scrunches up, “Did you get laid last night?”

Calum’s a bit taken aback, “What? No! It’s Tuesday!”

Mikey shrugs, “You’re just acting weird.”

Calum looks down at his phone. He’s really got to go. “Shit, I’m late.” He pulls his shoes on standing next to the door.

“For what?” Mikey calls over.

Calum is walking out the door as he yells back, “To flirt with a hot guy on the subway!”

Calum thinks he has the last word until Mikey practically screams as he closes the door, “Typical!”

Calum walks the quick half a block to the subway station without music in his ears. Instead he just listens to the beat of the city around him. He arrives at the train stop just a few minutes later than usual and rushes through the crowd, weaving through the people as he goes, always apologizing with a smile when he bumps someone.

Luke’s at his usual spot in his usual gorgeous position. His head is tipped back against the wall and his eyes are closed, the loop of his earbuds threading out of his jacket pocket. Calum bypasses the pole he normally leans against and heads to Luke. Calum knows how to flirt, thinks he’s pretty good at it actually. He eyes Luke, trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation. He decides on standing next to Luke, leaning against him just slightly to get Luke’s attention.

Unlike the average person, who would probably open their eyes to glare at the person who so rudely got in their space, Luke just shifts out of Calum’s way. Calum’s not ok with that, he worked far too hard on this outfit just to be ignored. So he leans even more into Luke, mirroring Luke’s position and closing his eyes.

Calum feels the moment that Luke’s eyes are on him. Luke’s shoulder, which had been about to shift away again, stays still against Calum’s. Calum can’t help the small smile on his face as he waits a moment. Calum cracks his eyes open just a bit to see Luke.

And he’s right there. His clear blue eyes and defined jaw so close to Calum. He looks a little confused, like he doesn’t know who Calum is and Calum wonders for a second if he had dreamed yesterday morning. He pushes the thought away and smiles at Luke, hoping to get one in return, “Good morning.”

Luke seems to breathe for the first time in awhile, “Hey.” Luke’s face is neutral and relaxed but his eyes are shining. Calum pretends that’s for him and not because the fumes in the station are making him tear up.

Luke still has his earbuds in but Calum wants to talk to him. “What are you listening to?” Calum asks, pointing to the line up to Luke’s ear. If he was a little braver, he’d take the earbuds out of Luke’s ear himself. Luke takes the left earbud out and holds it for Calum to take. It’s a Blink-182 song. Just re-affirming that Luke has an amazing taste in music. He drops the earbud, he’s just so happy with how this is working out. He looks up at Luke, “Nice.”

Luke grins and looks at Calum. “Thanks.” Calum holds the eye contact for a second before he hears the sound of the train pulling into the station.

On instinct, Calum pushes through everyone to jump on to the train. He figures Luke is behind him as he threads through the people to an open spot in the back. When Calum turns, Luke is in the middle of the pack, holding on to the bar in a mess of people. Calum hates that about trains, the crowding together. He can’t breathe when everyone is packed together so tightly. But he didn’t wear his leather jacket for nothing.

Calum sighs and squishes between people to get to Luke. Luke doesn’t have sure footing and his grip on the bar is too loose. As the train starts to move, Calum can see Luke start to sway so he reaches forward to steady Luke. It’s purely instinctual, he slides into place behind Luke and his hand rests on the smooth line of Luke’s waist. Calum’s not surprised to feel the tight muscle underneath his palm. He says a little thank you to the world for putting him in this situation with such a ridiculously attractive person.

Luke starts to turn around to face Calum and Calum can see the eye roll beginning on Luke's face. It makes Calum smile, the fact that Luke disregards people who touch him without permission. The eye roll stops when Luke sees it’s Calum and Calum can’t help but feel a little victorious. He smiles a bit and leans closer into Luke to whisper. “You looked like you were going to fall into his lap.” He gestures with his head towards the guy behind Luke.

Luke is extremely close to Calum. When Luke had started to turn, Calum had kept his hand firmly on Luke’s waist. It had drawn Luke into Calum’s body so there’s just a little bit of space between them. Calum looks up into Luke’s eyes and see a little bit of shock and maybe...panic? Well, that’s not a good sign. The train takes a sharp turn and Luke falls in even closer.

Calum wonders if Luke is uncomfortable and decides to step back, giving him as much space as he possibly can. Luke seems a little less shaken this way. “Sorry,” Calum’s a bit embarrassed. He turns his head down at reaches up with his hand, still warm from Luke’s side, to scratch his neck.

Luke seems to lighten a bit, a small smile spreading over his face. Luke shrugs, “It’s ok. It’s not like we just met yesterday.”

After Luke says his little joke, he gets a smug look on his face and Calum has to grin at his proud little smile, “Real funny.”

Calum is surprised by what Luke says next, “It feels like we didn’t meet just yesterday. I’ve seen you around so often.” Calum had thought it had been just him noticing Luke at the station. Luke always seemed too far away, in some secret realm of beautiful people, to possible notice Calum. Calum’s shocked that Luke is speaking to him, let alone that he remembers him.

Calum, his body parts clicking into place as if he’s finally seeing how everything is aligning, says,“Same.” He pauses just a second before adding, “Three mornings every week.”

“Yep. Is there a reason why it’s only three days?” Luke asks, voice unwavering and his eyes staring at something over Calum’s shoulder. If Calum had to guess, he’d say Luke was fishing for information, but there’s no reason why Luke should think he’d have to do that. Calum would willingly answer any question Luke might pose.

Calum answers anyways, “Well, I have classes on Monday and Wednesdays, they start at 7:30 so I take the earlier train.” Luke’s eyebrows shoot up at that. Huh. Calum figured he was a pretty obvious student, with the backpack and the casual clothes, his age. But Luke seems surprised. Calum wonders what Luke thought he did? Actually, Calum would be surprised if Luke ever put any thought into it at all.

Luke’s watching Calum’s face and Calum’s kind of waiting for Luke to say something. Normally when people find out he’s in college, they ask about his studies. He has a nice little impressive spiel about what he wants to do with his life that he’d like to tell Luke. So Calum watches Luke, waiting for the question.

“You look good in leather.” Luke says, quite seriously. Calum can’t help but smile wide as Luke looks like he can’t believe he said that. Calum knew the leather was a good choice.

Oh well, might as well compliment Luke back, “Thanks. You look really good in sweaters.”

“Thank you.” Luke mutters quietly, turning to look out the window. Luke always does this, Calum’s noticed as he casually watched him, the staring. Luke will just fix his eyes on something Calum can’t see. It’s as if Luke’s having some sort of telekinetic conversation with something.

“What are you thinking about?” Calum asks, eye brows furrowed. He just really wants to know what’s going on in Luke’s mind.

“What?” Luke looks back, startled.

“You just get this really intense look on your face on the train. Just wondering what it was about.” Calum moves closer to Luke, switching where he is on the train. He wonders if Luke will humor him, or maybe he’ll be weirded out by Calum.

cIt takes a Luke awhile to respond, a few different emotions flashing over his face. Calum watches as Luke figures out what to say, “The future,” Luke says. “I just think about what will happen next.”

Calum’s confused. “Like, planning out your day?”

“Uh, no.” Luke has a shy grin on his face, “More like, I imagine where I’m going to work, who I’ll marry, whether he’ll want kids or not, that kind of thing.”

Calum hears the gender and immediately says, “He?” Calum wants some verification that Luke could be into this, into whatever Calum is trying so hard to build.

Luke looks down at his shoes,“Yeah.”

“Huh.” Calum says, wondering if Luke is hiding his face and tensing because people have reacted badly to his sexuality. Well, Calum is more than fine with it.

Luke must hear him because his eyes snap up and he says, “Huh? Huh what?”

“S’nothing.” Calum doesn’t want to flat out ask Luke on the train if people have given him shit for being himself. That sounds like a later conversation. Calum leans back and shrugs, thinking up a stupid comment to make to stop the silence between them, “Just figured a guy like you would have a hot model girlfriend or something.”

Luke practically howls at that, body shaking as he laughs into his hand. He looks gorgeous like this, the smile so wide on his cheeks. Calum gets a little boost knowing he made Luke laugh. “Nope, definitely not.” Luke says as he stops laughing, “What about you? Do you have a hot model girl friend at home?” Luke’s smile turns into a smirk. Calum wonders if they’ve officially gotten into flirting yet.

Calum looks over at Luke, trying to make his words heavy with underlying meaning. “I dated a guy who was an extra in a movie once, but no. No one at home.”

Luke smiles brightly but then tamps it down, surprising Calum when he says “Oh, that’s...too bad?”

Calum doesn’t know what he means by that. Too bad that Calum is single? Too bad that Calum dated a guy? That the guy was only an extra? What exactly is it that is too bad for Calum because he doesn’t see anything ‘too bad’ about this situation. “It is?”

“Unless you like being single, then it’s great. It’s just...” Luke pauses, “You should be happy.”

Calum really doesn’t understand what’s happening right now, or what Luke is trying to say. Because Calum’s pretty sure at least part of what has happened over the past train ride has been flirting, so he would think that Luke would want him to be single? Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. “I am happy. I don’t need somebody else to be happy.”

“Oh.” Luke says. It feels like defeat for Luke though, and Calum doesn’t want Luke to feel that way.

“I mean,” Calum continues, “I’m not against dating, I date. I’m just not in a relationship right now and I’m happy. I’d also be happy if I was in a relationship. I’m not though.” He’s pretty sure Luke gets the message.

Luke smiles and starts to says, “I unde-” but the screech cuts him off as they start to turn into Luke’s station. Luke meets Calum’s eyes and all Calum can do is smile. It seems to make Luke happy, he returns the smile.

“Have fun at work.” Calum says quietly, just for Luke to hear as Luke walks toward the doors.

“Thanks, see you on Thursday.” Luke call back over his shoulder as he weaves through the people.

Calum is left there, in the middle of the packed train, waving at a ridiculously attractive boy that he’s pretty sure he was just flirting with. He still has to process everything that just happened. It feels like Calum did ok but Luke’s walking out of the train door and Calum doesn’t have his number. In two days, Calum will just have to try again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Expect the three more scenes over the next few months. I'm getting really into the other things I'm working on (which I'm super excited about and always wanting to talk about, so if you're curious, come talk to me on tumblr!). So, yeah. It'll probably be awhile. But at least I know how I want to end it! 
> 
> You know me, emmybazy.tumblr.com.
> 
> Have a great day!


End file.
